The victim, 80, had her bank cards stolen by a man at a Tesco store in Anson Road, Martlesham, on Thursday evening.

A Suffolk Constabulary spokesman said: “An 80-year-old woman parked her car around 6.30pm and went into the store to do her shopping. After this was completed she returned to the vehicle and opened the boot while she loaded shopping from her trolley.

“Seconds later the man approached her and engaged her in conversation, saying there was a nail in one of her car tyres. The lady then realised the door of her vehicle was open, which it shouldn’t have been, and went to take a look, while the man remained near the boot of the vehicle. The woman returned to the boot and the man was standing with a nail in his hand, saying it was now OK, and he left.

“The woman later discovered bank cards had been taken from her purse that had been in the boot. Fortunately nothing was stolen from her accounts as she wisely did not keep a copy of her PIN number in her purse. Once notified of the incident police checked the car tyres and none of them appeared to have been damaged by a nail.”

The perpetrator is described as white, possibly in his 30s, of slim build, around 5ft 10ins tall, with a full head of slightly curly hair, who was polite and spoke with a foreign accent.